Appearance

Family

Social information

Occupation(s)

Warren(s)

Silverfox was a Soletaken and ImassBonecaster. She was reborn of a Rhiviwoman who carried a child with no soul.[2] She aged extremely rapidly to achieve maturity, but this accelerated growth was at the physical expense of her birth mother who aged at a similar, alarming rate.[3]

Contents

On her way to warn Whiskeyjack of betrayal, the Malazan Mage Tattersail encountered the Thelomen High Mage Bellurdan who had been tasked by Tayschrenn to return her. With Bellurdan was the body of his former partner Nightchill, killed at Pale, upon which Tattersail had previously laid a preservation spell. The presence in the area of a T'lan Imass had made accessing Warrens extremely dangerous and seeing no other way out, Tattersail resorted to desperate measures. She opened up her Warren fully, causing a conflagration in which both she and Bellurdan, whom she embraced at the last moment, were incinerated. According to Steven Erikson, the nature of the Tellann sorcery kicked out by Tool essentially locked Hood’s Gate for any soul leaving mortal flesh within range of its influence.[4] The souls instead shifted to the body of Nightchill where all three souls were preserved.[5]

One of Kruppe's dreams was hijacked by the Elder God K'rul to create a Soletaken. Through the efforts of a pregnant Rhivi woman, the Mhybe, prepared by means unknown, and the T'lan[6]BonecasterPran Chole they transferred the three souls into the body of the unborn child. The child was born with silver fur which sloughed away immediately, hence the name, Silverfox. Kruppe's dream ended with that scene.[7]

Captain Paran was surrounded by Bhederin on the Rhivi Plain. He was attacked by Rhivi warriors but saved by his sword and the words of a strange, seemingly five year old girl. He realised as the group left that the girl was Tattersail, that the woman he thought dead had not in fact entered Hood's realm. He was distressed by her apparent youth.[9]

It was said by the Elder God K'rul that Tattersail/Silverfox "[grew] swiftly, as [was] the nature of Soletaken" and also that "a powerful warlord now [sheltered] her."[10]

Now appearing as a ten year old child, she was in the custody of the warlord Caladan Brood, much to the displeasure of Brood's second-in-command, Kallor. During the meetings to secure an alliance with Onearm's Host, the High King called her an abomination and demanded her immediate death. He was halted by Brood and by Whiskeyjack, who struck Kallor in defiance.[3]

Even before Whiskeyjack's act in her defense, Silverfox trusted the Bridgeburner, calling him "uncle". The circumstances of her birth gave her a wisdom beyond her years, granting her knowledge few possessed (such as the true origin of the Great Ravens). Yet, she was still shocked to discover that her growth came at the expense of her rapidly aging mother.[3] The souls of Tattersail and Nightchill fought for dominance within her and Whiskeyjack brought her to Tattersail's former lover, Ganoes Paran, in attempt to bring Tattersail to the forefront.[11][12]

As the first flesh and blood Bonecaster in hundreds of thousands of years, Silverfox knew her task was to summon the T'lan Imass to a Second Gathering. She hoped to use them to assist Brood and the Malazans against the horrors of the Pannion Domin.[13]

Kallor took his hatred of her so far as to attempt to kill her himself. However, Whiskeyjack stepped in to defend her and was killed.

After the Siege of Coral, she refused to release the T'lan Imass from their vow though Onos T'oolan convinced her to release the T'lan Ay. When she later realized the cruelty of this decision, she offered to release the undead warriors and was shocked to learn that the T'lan Imass had decided to wait, and go to the rescue of their remaining kin in Assail.

Speaking for herself as well as Nightchill, Tattersail, and Bellurdan, she decided to join them.

Onrack T'emlava told Trull Sengar on Seven Cities that a new, mortal bonecaster had summoned the T'lan Imass to a distant land. He did not heed the call as he was no longer bound to the Ritual and no longer sought release and oblivion like his brethren. But he speculated that The Unbound were working with the Crippled God and the Tiste Edur to seize the First Throne and thus control of the T'lan Imass. Such a move would compel the mortal summoner to obey as well. The bonecaster, Monok Ochem, revealed that Logros had sent only representatives to the summons because the bulk of the Logros T'lan Imass army was needed on Seven Cities.[14]

Silverfox was in Assail with Pran Chole to rescue more of her people. There she found Tolb Bell'al, revealing that at least one Ifayle was still alive. The KerluhmT'lan Imass refused to end their war on the Jaghut and she pursued their marauding bands across the continent as they approached the center of Jaghut power in the Salt Peaks.[15]

After enlightening the Kerluhm about the hope for redemption, Silverfox and Pran Chol represented the T'lan Imass in the reforged peace of the four founding races (Forkrul Assail, T'lan Imass, Jaghut, and Tiste Andii).[16] Then she continued her search to save the remainder of her people.[17]

Notes

'[Silverfox] was created within the influence of a T'lan Imass – its timeless warren became the binding threads, and were so woven by an Imass bonecaster – a bonecaster of flesh and blood, Korlat. This child belongs to the T’lan Imass. She may well be clothed in the flesh of a Rhivi, and she may well contain the souls of two Malazan mages, but she is now a Soletaken, and more – a Bonecaster. And even these truths but brush the edges of what she will become.' ―The Mhybe, to Korlat • MoI, UK MMPB, p.106

'She has done a terrible wrong, sir, yet upon her shoulders it weighs nothing...There is no war within her...They walk in agreement, sir. She is calm within.' ―Itkovian, on Silverfox • MoI, UK TPB, p.642

'Soul-shifting is a delicate thing. The woman [Tattersail] was consumed in a conflagration. Her soul's first flight was carried on wings of pain and violence. More, she entered another ravaged body [Nightchill], bearing its own traumas. The child that is born will be like no other ever seen. Its life is a mystery, Kruppe'. ―K'rul, to Kruppe • GotM, UK MMPB, p.358

"Then a small cry rose into the still air, and the Rhivi lifted in her arms a child furred in silver. Even as Kruppe watched, the fur sloughed away. [...] Pran Chole strode to stand beside Kruppe and the Elder God. The T'lan looked exhausted. 'The child drew from me power beyond my control', he said softly." • GotM, UK MMPB, p.359

References

↑In a Q&A on the TOR Website Steven Eriksonstated that: In my mind Bellurdan’s essence always played a role in Silverfox. The nature of the Tellann sorcery kicked out by Tool essentially locked Hood’s Gate for any soul leaving mortal flesh within range of its influence. Bellurdan was one such character. But he’s a Thel Akai, and that makes his soul a very powerful thing indeed. To answer you, Silverfox got a small part of him, but the rest of him went elsewhere….

Kruppe: "Disparate spirits are united in their resolve! A spirit of hard edges, to hold the others to their course despite all the pain that others must bear [Nightchill]. Another spirit, to clasp hard the hurt of abandonment until it can find proper answer! [Tattersail] And yet a third spirit, filled with love and compassion – if somewhat witless, granted [Bellurdan] – to so flavour the pending moment. And a fourth, possessing the power to achieve the necessary reparation of old wounds—"

Quick Ben: "...Who’s the fourth in Silverfox?"

Kruppe: "Why, the seed-child of a T’lan Imass Bonecaster, of course. Pran Chole’s daughter, the one whose true name is indeed the one by which we all know her!"